In the world of boxing, and MMA how much potential does someone have if...

[jongib369]

They're gifted with the size/athleticism of Shaq, or Wilt? They have tremendous power, speed, and quickness. Not only that but they're CRAZY long, and heavy. I cant imagine how much ****ing force a fist that size moving fast, while weighing so much would feel like if it connected. Would they go out and ****ing murder people?

[iamgine]

Well clearly in terms of the physical tools of Shaq or Wilt were up there.

But boxing is much more than that.

Some people have weak chin, fragile fist, tire quickly, afraid of punches, lazy, no heart to fight, etc. Right now it's an unanswerable question.

[jongib369]

Well clearly in terms of the physical tools of Shaq or Wilt were up there.

But boxing is much more than that.

Some people have weak chin, fragile fist, tire quickly, afraid of punches, lazy, no heart to fight, etc. Right now it's an unanswerable question.
Definitely, they weren't fighters. But I'm asking what if someone with the right mindset/chin came along would do to the sports. They would outweigh a lot of heavyweights more so than some heavyweights outweigh lightweights. Would they need their own weight class?

[Thorpesaurous]

Boxing has obviously gotten bigger in the last twenty years. And like Jong says up there, it feels like we need to introduce another weight class.

But getting up to that size, while certainly having huge advantages, would present a few problems as well. We've gotten to a point where we were at 6-5, 6-6 pretty regularly, during the Bowe, Lewis era, and now Devonte Wilder is up to 6-7. The Klitchko's seem at least as tall. Fury is allegedly 6-8.

There was a time where there was a counter where smaller guys could get inside the arms of bigger guys and do damage to the body. It's what made the Ali/Frazier fights so great. It's the Frazier cloth that Tyson was cut from. But we haven't seen that smaller guy lately, and it seems the bigger guys have just gotten too big, hence the idea of a new weight class. There's also been a big increase in the amount of holding. These super tall guys have been trained to punch down and wrap up any time anyone gets inside their target distance, and it makes for pretty boring fights in my opinion, which is part of why no one watches anymore.

So for a guy to get to 7-2 or so, even with the required strength and athleticism, I suppose you'd see more of the same. But it is possible that at some point the guy get's too long, and in order to maintain his proper range, there just isn't enough room in the ring.

[iamgine]

Definitely, they weren't fighters. But I'm asking what if someone with the right mindset/chin came along would do to the sports. They would outweigh a lot of heavyweights more so than some heavyweights outweigh lightweights. Would they need their own weight class?
That's the thing though, having that kind of chin, mindset and boxing coordination is rare in itself. Let alone having the kind of stamina to last 12 rounds carrying that much weight. We know Shaq and Wilt could last on the basketball court, but boxing is much different.

It is like asking, man what if Yao Ming stayed healthy for his career...he really can't at that height and weight.

[Duderonomy]

The heavyweight limit is 265 in MMA so to be 6'7 you would have to relatively slim

[gigantes]

in MMA, the taller you are beyond a certain point for your weight class (about 6'4" in HW), the more your opponent can use that against you. weight-wise it's a little more nebulous, but it's a similar concept. also, 265lbs is the weigh-in limit for HW, so it's hard to rehydrate beyond around 300lbs. brock lesnar is probably the guy who rehydrated the most.

at times, amongst various MMA orgs, there's been talk about creating a super-HW division. generally there's never enough talent for that to be realistic.

so yeah, MMA is a very body-on-body sport, and mobility is hugely important in every area. guys like fedor emelianenko (6 feet) regularly demolished giants, as you can watch on youtube. the very founding of the UFC was based on the idea that a small, mobile skilled man (royce gracie) could defeat much larger men.

[Thorpesaurous]

in MMA, the taller you are beyond a certain point for your weight class (about 6'4" in HW), the more your opponent can use that against you. weight-wise it's a little more nebulous, but it's a similar concept. also, 265lbs is the weigh-in limit for HW, so it's hard to rehydrate beyond around 300lbs. brock lesnar is probably the guy who rehydrated the most.

at times, amongst various MMA orgs, there's been talk about creating a super-HW division. generally there's never enough talent for that to be realistic.

so yeah, MMA is a very body-on-body sport, and mobility is hugely important in every area. guys like fedor emelianenko (6 feet) regularly demolished giants, as you can watch on youtube. the very founding of the UFC was based on the idea that a small, mobile skilled man (royce gracie) could defeat much larger men.

The big counter in MMA for height is that takedowns are more effective with that lower center of gravity.
Boxing would be more interesting if they started more aggressively taking point deductions against taller guys who grab, because it would give the smaller guys the advantage back if they could get inside those long arms, but that's just nearly impossible to dictate.

[gigantes]

The big counter in MMA for height is that takedowns are more effective with that lower center of gravity.
pretty much, altho it's amazing to me how many guys have substandard technique in that area. a lot of BJJ guys could wreck shop if they could only get their opponents down, but just aren't good enough wrestlers to git er done.

also interesting when you have a skyscraper of a LHW like alexander gustafsson (6'5") who's so damn wizardly at takedown defense. now in this pic he is getting thrown around by a very short, olympic-class wrestler in daniel cormier (5'10"):


https://usatmmajunkie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/daniel-cormier-alexander-gustafsson-ufc-192-3.jpg


...and yet that wasn't really the story of the fight. daniel couldn't get too much done on the ground, IIRC because when he was in guard or half-guard against gusty, he couldn't reach gusty's head because of the height disparity. so the fight mostly took place on the feet, where they beat the crap out of each other.